Global Mobile Payments: Is Money the Universal Language?

February 16, 2015

Money talks. But when it comes to your business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce solution, is it really the universal language? According to data from the Baymard Institute, 68 percent of online shopping carts are abandoned before a purchase is made. Although companies are getting better at displaying product information and making it easy to edit carts, many struggle when it comes to global mobile payments and checking out. How do you make sure important data such as price, shipping information, and payment methods is accurately communicated to shoppers? In other words, how do you push these carts through?

Global Markets

According to Statista, the worldwide B2C e-commerce market was worth $1.2 trillion in 2013. Forty percent of Internet users have purchased an item online, with retail giants such as Amazon and Alibaba leading the way in large-volume B2C sales. Due to cost-effective cloud technologies and e-commerce portals, however, size is no longer a factor. With the right technology infrastructure and payment gateway, any company can go global. Driving visitors to your site is just the first step in the process—if they’re abandoning carts in the virtual aisle, you have a problem.

If sales aren’t matching expectations, start with a review of the basics. Does each item have an accurate, up-to-date description with several photos? Is the site easy to navigate and are carts easy to find? If the answers are “yes,” look at the checkout and mobile payment solutions—do they serve global visitors just as well?

Big Money

The biggest B2C e-commerce market by far is consumer electronics. eMarketer predicts upward of $66 billion in spending this year, well ahead of apparel and accessories at just $52 billion. By 2018, the online consumer electronics market will reach nearly $110 billion. In short, there is big money to be made and just as much to be lost if mobile checkout options aren’t properly translated for global users. This includes everything from currency conversion to shipping information and details about return policies or guarantees. Grammatical errors and complete mistranslations undermine consumer confidence, leading to increased cart abandonment.

Cost or Profit?

According to Memeburn, one of the biggest challenges facing companies when it comes to translation and localization projects is cost. Many approach the idea of converting checkout and mobile payment details as an expensive and sometimes unnecessary task—after all, if dollars are converted to pounds or euros, that’s good enough, right? In fact, you’re better off looking at payment translation as potential revenue. If you can establish a reputation for accuracy, speed, and reliability among global consumers, they’ll talk. Most of this talk happens via mobile devices, putting them just a finger press away from becoming an online sales convert.

If you want fewer abandoned shopping carts just outside your mobile payment gateway, invest in accurate, high-quality translation and localization services to make sure money talks and payment walks. Learn more about how translation software can help you keep customers on course until the checkout process is complete.

Image source: Bigstock

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About Doug Bonderud

Doug Bonderud is a freelance technology writer with a passion for telling great stories about unique brands. For the past five years, he's covered everything from cloud computing to home automation and IT security. He speaks some French, is fluent in Ancient Greek and a master of Canadian English — and yes, colour needs a 'u'.